L2 Vocabulary Acquisition in Children: Effects of Learning Method and Cognate Status

Abstract

In this study we investigated the effects of two learning methods (picture‐ or word‐mediated learning) and of word status (cognates vs. noncognates) on the vocabulary acquisition of two foreign languages: English and German. We examined children from fourth and eighth grades in a school setting. After a learning phase during which L2 words were presented either together with the corresponding translation in L1 (word‐learning method) or with the picture of the object to which the word refers (picture‐learning method), children were tested at different points in time. The results showed that the picture‐based method leads to a better performance than the word‐based method, but this effect was modulated by cognate status and age of learning. On the one hand, cognates were found to facilitate the acquisition of L2 words, but when the language was familiar (i.e., English for the eighth‐grade children), this effect decreased with exposure to language. On the other hand, cognate status interacted with the learning method in the older children, indicating that the word method was particularly effective for cognate words. Some implications concerning learning two languages at a time in the school setting are discussed.